The German World War 2 Maybach tank, rumoured to have been Adolf Hitler's gift to Bulgarian queen Yoanna is very unlikely to be returned to Bulgaria, Defence Ministry's officials said on March 13.

In December 2007, military counter-intelligence arrested a gang of two German citizens and a Bulgarian soldier, who had stolen one tank and tried to steal a second one. These tanks too used as firing points during the Cold War era, dug in between the villages of Melnitsa and Lesovo in the region of Yambol.

According to speculations in Bulgarian-language media, the stolen tank, reportedly smuggled to Germany, has been presented as a gift by Adolf Hitler to Bulgarian queen Yoanna during World War 2, for most of which Bulgaria sided with nazi Germany. "We know about these speculations, but without documents we can not confirmed that the stolen tank is that tank," Blagoi Milenov told a news conference given by Defence Ministry on the subject of Bulgarian army firing points in southern Bulgaria.

 "There are people who claim they have seen the inscription on the tank saying that it was Hitler's gift and I trust them, but without having the tank in our hands I can not confirm that with 100 per cent certainty," he said. "If however this is Hitler's tank, then it's price could go to up 10 million leva."

"There is an investigation going on at the moment started by the Military Prosecutor-General's Office in Sliven and we can not say much on the subject," Brigadier-General Boiko Rabadjiski from Bulgarian army general staff said.  

After the story about the smuggled Maybach tank broke this February, the ministry started digging up all tanks positioned in southern Bulgaria. The interest shown be museums and private collectors in the war relics has made the ministry think of selling the tanks and other equipment, some made in the former Soviet Union.

On March 19 a secret bidding auction will take place in Sofia at hall 1 at the Military club at 9am. On sale will be four 75 mm turret gun KVK - T-4 in Maybach turret (not a full set, gun body missing) with initial bidding price 800-1000 leva. Two 75 mm T-3 (not a full set) with a initial bidding price 250-1100 leva will be offered as well. The initial bidding price for Eighty-two ZiS-S-53/85 mm turret gun with a turret (not a full set) is set at 1160-1630 leva. The starting price of seven ZiS-S-53/85 mm turret guns in a T-34 turret (not a full set) is 1390-1450 leva and one ZiS-S-54/85 mm tank gun (not a full set) is offered for 1620 leva. Another 50 of the ZiS-S -53 /85 mm turret gun in a T-34 turret (not a full set ) will be offered at a initial bidding price of 340-7300 leva.

The interest is great and since the day the ministry announced the tender on March 5, it had hundreds of people and museums from abroad buying the tender documents," Emil Popov from the State ownership executive agency at the Defence Ministry told The Sofia Echo. Documents can be bought until May 14.

"I don't know if there are any private collectors in Bulgaria that will take part in the tender," he added. The ministry was hoping to get good money out of the tender, but "it is all up to bidders to decide how much they will pay for the parts," Milenov said. He admitted that the equipment that will be put for sale on March 19 was not in its best condition.

 "In early May at the earliest, we will organise an open tender for some of the Maybach's that we have dug up. We simply need time to restore them to a point that we can ask a good price for them," Popov said. However, the first priority will have the Military Museum who was hoping to exchange the tanks for other WW2 equipment with other museums. "I have already received requests from museums in Germany. They are offering us a Škoda  and a Fiat equipment that Bulgarian army used in WW2 and we are missing in our collection," Popov said.